Ok then just to answer the requests for an answer and also for Jez whose been patient as well here is what/how i interperated and decided how to do my " bit of Dirt". Now this may not be strictly Fucuokas method, but At the time it wasnt anyones idea.Just something I decided to try, after reading about Bills Rain forest methods..and...Reading, Jeffrey Hodges book on "Natural Gardening and Farming in Australia" also greatly helped, as i was a "Garden Virgin" as far as gardening or even Permaculture went.Im strictly "Self taught.". Actually I had heard or Mr F previously but never read anything about him or his ideas, untill only about 6 months ago when someone posted a link to his "online book" when i read it i was amazed at our simula ideas.. Anyways enough of the Intro,Where i now live is where ive put everything Ive learned into, "this place" So its 11 years of blood,sweat n tears..Then off to Sunny Broomehill...Western Oz approx 150klms from the ocean on 2 sides. Barren wasteland/Farmland and only a few trees being planted by anyone..anywhere at all. with n Elevation of 328 meters above see level, Lets see sea levels reaching us What wed done was Find ourselfs a nice little house on a virtual, for ever lease,on a very low by anyones standards rent..With a landlord that never visits, or increases the rent... The garden (used this term very lightly) consisted of 1 weeping willow in front garden (thats all) this tree was magicly saved by me over 2 persons belief that the tree was DEAD..(it is a decideous tree)... Been pruned right back 2 times in 6 winters.. One huge shadey but badly neglected Boobieella (dunno spelling 8) and 6 x 25 foot bushyshrubs that were dead for the bottom 20 foot.. and 1 spikey horrible bush..NOTHING else except about 4 dead grass bits for a lawn. Wallah at the back was a septic system that consisted of two trenches lined with pipe and a fly screen like material,with a pump that pumped out the grey water every time it filled automatcly.....Talking with my local plumber he recommended (if it was his, "growing fruit trees") We moved in on 15 july 2000,. Two wweks later after moving in etc etc.was time to start doing Something...... When we moved in we had a 1/2 doz Kharki Cambell ducks..and a coupla chooks i think.. Thanfully there was an old shed at the back corner approx 30 foot by 12 foot .....Now the Chook house.....I cut the garden in half and put ducks on one side fruit trees,fodder tree etc in other side, One side fallow with poultry,the other side rested but planted aprox 20 mixed fruit/fodder trees,several chook proof herbs and space to moove. I had a mixture of trees some decideous some evergreens,they also needed to be as non flamable as possible. I live in Broomehill and live on the hill so its crappy coffee rock, come clay come anything hard. :lol: :lol: :lol: the garden had been used mostly by cars etc since day one, by every other tennent over 40 yrs. So in fact, it was compacted hilly rocky hill,1/2 way down a gentle hill.... 8) 8) 8) 8) Digging holes thru soft concrete would be easier then diging my tree holes even the trusty old mattock struggled!!!!! next after the actual planting out was keeping it alive untill i was an old man in the "True permie way" I also made a few extra hard desicions just to make it harder (hard bugger eh) No rotory hoes or any machinary was EVER going to be allowed in MY SECTION.. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: It had to be done as naturaly as i could,with little or no help untill being able to self survive after 5 years..(I found that after the first year 99% of my simply basic recycled hoses,sprinkers,drippers, were unemployed) After finishing planting,I started on gathering anything that was organic around my trees as a mulch,with 20 odd trees in half a 20mX20m garden, with so many trees so close it was decided to just muclch every sq mm instead of keeping it just around the trees it was to all be mulched and covered with as deepest a mulch that i could.Supply of organic wastes can be easy or hard depending on locations..From the very first day till now theres never been anything green or organic, leave this place,lawn clipping,weeds(yummy)flowers,cardboard,newspapers,anthing that broke down was tossed onto Tezzas huge natural compost heap( the whole bloody garden) was now 1 big naturaly occuring compost just like natures own natural droppings were continually adding to the "pile" with near half the nurse species trees were decideous, so they would be adding literally tonnes of leaf drop over the trees lifspan all without moving a muscle.. Over time but not for a few years i had luxuary of a truck or two of woodchips wich i reckon are blooming marvelous..Some spoilt hay from generous mates(after barter of course)..all added over time but at an allmost 1 extra straw at a time, only its so healthy, its more like a hundred an hour now 8) 8) 8) 8) What with blow ins,normal branch,leaf drop of a yearly allround basis its just about at the self sufficient in mulchs now.. If i have a weed i pull it out and put it str8 back where it grew,no where else but where it was,if this is done, eventualy your self mulching as you weed,growing weeds and allowing poultry in amongst everthing 6 months later, to give a good mix and scratch up, whilst the other 1/2 of the garden was becomming eaten out by the poultry, and was fertilized by said poultryand losened enough of the soil to allow the citrus/guava orchard to be planted out, in preperation for allowing full open range over the entire garden,Planting trees that are taller then the poultry is handy, but circles of wire netting can stop scratchers from digging tree roots out or them ring barking young fruit trees..Putting in chook proof herbs into the garden allows me to control my bugs/insects,parasites etc down to what i would consider ( Miraculous)magical even.. I dont have bugs at all explain that.. stopping now in case comp freezes under this work load i aint trying to remember all this lot again :lol: Edited and spelling corrected to be more readable to everyone. 8) 8) 8) My garden still operates on a rotational basis,loose term but now i have a small hole in my fence witch allows my chooks accsess to the outa areas. Outside is Suburbia,luckily i dont have too many neighbours and the chooks come and go 24/7,cats visit me but only interested in food scraps,dogs and foxes cant fit in the hole either. My choks actualy run in open range and have a habit of walking along the street and walking into my front garden,wich annoys my wife,shes got flowers in front garden.. Id add a photo or twenty but unable to post in the posts.BUT i do have a nice colection/selection in the photo gallery here... Dunno if i can find the link to fucuoka page but type it in google or maybe someone else knows where it is, ok Tezza
Fukuoka Hi Tezza, Do you remember what the link was to Fukuoka's book, am interested in reading it, have read some basic info on his methods but haven't found the book. Would be much appreciated. Your garden sounds wonderful by the way, is there a spot for the hammock in there somewhere? Hannah
Hiya I found the link To Mr Fs page but it no longer exsists..From memory it was one of those (you got a month to do it sort of last and only chance) set ups, Bugger i wanted to re read it again... Anyone else get a copy???? Tezza
I'm think I came across it on Steve Solomon's website https://www.soilandhealth.org/. And that would fit with the one month to view kind of set up Bernie
Tezza, thanks for the big explanation back there. This site doesn't seem to be notifying me of replies like it used to, it seems to be sporadic, so I missed that at the time. I agree about the mulching in place and dropping weeds where they grew, I've found I just don't have time to haul the stuff all over. I do pour diluted compost tea over the mulches, and it works really well. Nice that you've got the chooks out there working for you. I have a new problem with my compost tumbler that I use for the kitchen scraps. The packrats are chewing bigger holes at the aeration hole sites and getting into the barrel and hauling it off. I tumble the scraps because the raccoons, foxes, etc, will haul the scraps off if I don't. But now with these new invaders I've got to re-think my tumbler. Arrrrrrrrrgggghhhh!! These buggers are wearing me down!!
Weedmulching Hi all, We had a guy from the biodynamic farming group come to our permaculture meeting last month and it was very interesting. Didn't know much about it before, thought it a bit too cooky spooky. Still think it's a little, but their attitude to the soil being integral is great. He talked about weeds, that they show up deficiencies in the soil and actually grow to compensate the deficiency, often having long taproots that reach past the tired soil at the top to mine the deep reserves of minerals for us top dwelling creatures. So the best place to compost a weed is precisely where it is growing. I love the chop and drop method - it it less work, makes weeds so much easier to pull out and deal with and provides the best mulch to keep plants moist and happy. Doing my intro to Permaculture Course at the moment, and the pieces are all starting to fall into place. I don't think Biodynamics could ever replace permaculture, but there's a lot of good in it that we can use.
